


Green

by MadameRed



Series: The Colours Trilogy [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Aerith is a gossip monger, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blow Jobs, Jealousy, M/M, Rimming, Seifer isn't jailbait, Tifa is morbid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 19:18:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17966465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameRed/pseuds/MadameRed
Summary: Some time after Leon and Cloud's mutually beneficial, horizontal relationship begins, an old friend of Leon's returns home. Cloud gets jealous and, in true Cloud fashion, freaks out.*This can be read as a standalone fic, though it follows a few months after Red.*





	Green

**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of this slightly divergent world, Seifer does not exist as a wee jailbait in Twilight Town. Let me keep my plot points and just enjoy Seifer being babe-ified again.

“Move over, your spikes are encroaching,” Leon grumbled. Cloud snorted, but acquiesced, making a mental note to get a trim. He drew the thin white sheet up to their waists and settled on his back, tucking one hand behind his head and sighing contentedly. Nearly four months had gone by since he’d confronted Leon about why he was being avoided. In truth, not much had changed. Their work with the Restoration Committee continued, and between that work, Cloud ran deliveries all over Radiant Garden, including to small towns and villages that had begun cropping up in the rest of the world. They still dined with their friends a few times a week, met up at Seventh Heaven on Friday nights to attempt to outdrink Rufus Shinra, and sparred with one another in between all the work.

The few bits of free time they had, though, they spent wrapped around one another in the privacy of their home, fucking one another against every surface they could manage. Cloud had _missed_ sex, apparently, for he found himself craving Leon’s touch daily. Sometimes they drew it out for an entire evening, exploring one another and driving each other to the steepest peaks of pleasure. Sometimes it was a quickie against the wall beside the front door as one of them was getting ready to leave. They were fortunate that their house was generally regarded as too far out of the way for dinners or drinking, because bottles of lube were literally everywhere, and Cloud didn’t think either of them could handle the mortification of Aerith or, god forbid, Yuffie, wandering in and espying the evidence of their proclivities.

He glanced over at Leon, who was stretched out in his bed, remnants of his own release on his chest. He smirked, swiping a finger through the mess and drawing cobalt eyes to him. He drew his finger into his mouth and licked at the still warm seed, not breaking eye contact with Leon. Cloud relished in the heat in that deep blue gaze for a moment, and then sat up, stretching easily and leaving Leon’s room without a word, to prepare for the day. Moments later he was under the hot spray of his own shower, wondering when he’d grown so flirtatious. Was it when he’d been lounging on the couch a week after Leon’s confession and given the other man a look that screamed ‘come over here and fuck me’ so insistently that Leon had dropped his mug? Or maybe it was when he’d come home from a delivery one day and walked past Leon’s room to see him slowly stroking himself and all but dove onto his friend’s bed.

He scrubbed at his scalp, deciding that it didn’t really matter. He was interested, and so was Leon, and they were enjoying themselves. Why complicate things?

Hours later, he found himself entertaining Yuffie, which was not so much entertaining as it was grunting noncommittally in response to her endless river of questions and random thoughts. He was putting the finishing touches on the tune up he’d given Fenrir, replacing the tools in Cid’s garage in their proper places. Yuffie had found him an hour previous, perching herself on a large mechanical arm and babbling nonsense at him. Eventually she’d run out of things to talk about and turned her attention _on_ him, rather than at him.

“It’s good to see you in such a good mood, Cloudy!” she said, and Cloud could swear he heard her smirking. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you finally got laid.” She cackled to herself, and Cloud kept his face carefully blank, fighting his urge to grin guiltily. “ _Are_ you getting laid?” Cloud snorted.

“Yeah, by all the suitors knocking down my door to get to me,” he replied as nonchalantly as possible. “I’m emotionally unavailable and ‘intimidating’, remember?”

“That’s right, how could I have forgotten?” she teased. Cloud frowned, replacing the oil cap on his bike.

“When you think everyone you’ve ever known is dead and crushed into space dust, it tends to have that effect on a guy,” he muttered. He glanced up at her to see her make an unpleasant face.

“Alright, jeez, don’t be such a buzzkill,” she grumbled.

“Hey, buzzkill!”a familiar voice called. Cloud and Yuffie looked up to see Reno striding in through the entrance to the garage. Yuffie brightened and slid off the machine arm, bouncing into his arms easily. Even Cloud saw the way Reno’s posture relaxed around her, his features softening as he wrapped himself around her, and he had to bite back a smile. Reno hadn’t always been the best person, but he made Yuffie happy. Also, every single one of their friends had threatened him with some form of bodily injury or emotional trauma if he ever hurt her, so that brought him some comfort as well.

“If you’ve come to collect your woman, get her and go,” Cloud said, turning back to his bike. Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him.

“You wouldn’t know what to do without me,” she sang. Cloud hummed to himself, choosing to keep any comments about not having to lock up his materia to himself.

“Actually, I’m here for you, Cloud,” Reno drawled. Cloud glanced up, raising one eyebrow suspiciously. Every time Reno needed him for something, it always ended in explosives somehow. “Word came in from the communication tower - a ship’s incoming, said they’re an old friend of Leon’s from the military. The feed cut off before we could get any other info, but he’s on his way to the loading dock now.” Cloud pursed his lips, feigning disinterest.

“What’s that got to do with me?”

“I don’t know, because he’s your b-f-f,” Reno said, his tone pitching higher at the acronym, “and you should be there for him. Yanno, sentimental crap like that.”

Cloud chewed on Reno’s words. He wasn’t wrong; long before he’d started sleeping with the man, he and Leon were fast friends. Often, they would sit in complete silence, neither of them uncomfortable in the other’s presence. To Cloud, such moments were just as energizing to his emotionally crippled soul as a good night’s rest and a hot cup of coffee. Leon would appreciate the support of Cloud’s presence, and Cloud found himself unsurprised to have come to the conclusion before he was even aware of doing so. He’d put a pin in that for later.

“Are you going?” Cloud asked.

“Why should I? I’ve got the afternoon off and a gap in my schedule to fill,” Reno said salaciously, waggling his eyebrows at Yuffie. Cloud puckered his lips and mounted his motorcycle. “Get it, Cloud? Gap? Fill?” Cloud dropped his sunglasses onto his face and grappled with his keys, shoving them into the ignition. “See, the gap is Yuffie’s-”

Fenrir roared to life at just the right moment, and Cloud swore his bike was sentient and looking after his sanity. He gunned the engine and rode past the grinning couple, never having been so grateful to get the hell away from his friends.

Early evening in Radiant Garden was just as beautiful as it had been before the world had been consumed by darkness. The sun was low in the sky but not quite setting, throwing shades of orange and pink across the sky in a perfect gradient. Cloud pulled up to the loading dock and saw Leon immediately, leaning against a stack of crates and looking as though he might bite through the inside of his cheek in an effort to keep still. He looked up at Cloud as Fenrir roared up, looking relieved. Cloud parked his bike and nodded at Leon, hanging back but making it clear that he wasn’t going anywhere.

A battered, smoking gummi ship slowly descended onto the landing pad, looking like someone had put it in a spaceship sized food processor and dumped it back out. After several tense moments, the hatch popped open. Smoke poured out, coiling along the ground, but no ladder or ramp descended. Leon jogged up to the ship and hefted himself into it easily, vanishing into the haze. Leon remained inside for several long minutes, and Cloud was about to mount a search and rescue when suddenly the ramp shuddered down at an uncomfortable looking angle. The smoke had since dissipated, and two figures emerged from the flickering darkness. One was unmistakably Leon, and the other was a man he didn’t recognize. Taller than Leon, with fair skin and blond hair and a scar that mirrored Leon’s. The man said something, and Leon smiled easily. Cloud swallowed around his suddenly dry mouth and raised his hand in greeting.

“Cloud, this is Seifer, a friend from the military, from… after you left,” Leon said carefully. Cloud nodded. Cloud’s five year absence was something they’d spoken very little on and Leon never pressed him about it, which Cloud was endlessly grateful for. He was positive that Tifa and Aerith had caught him up to speed, after they’d bullied the information out of him with a lot of kicked puppy looks and inappropriately sweet pastries, but Leon never expressed a desire to talk it over with Cloud.

He inclined his head at Seifer, giving him a brief once-over. Deep grey circles in thick smudges under his eyes, sagging shoulders, rumpled clothes, and hair that looked like it’d been combed in the back with a firecracker. He looked like death warmed over, and he smiled grimly.

“Some first impression I’m making,” he joked weakly. Leon shook his head firmly.

“First impressions really don’t matter anymore. This is mild, I promise,” he said with a meaningful glance at Cloud.

Cloud smirked, remembering his own reaction after he’d discovered that his home was restored and all of his friends were alive and well. He hadn’t seen them since before he’d been crammed in a mouldy basement for four years, and when the world fell to darkness, he’d heard a rumour that everyone on it had perished. Grief stricken, he’d landed in the Coliseum and his truth was only changed after Sora had swept in, changing his life once more when he brought Leon with him one day.

Seifer stared around the loading bay, looking but not really seeing anything. Cloud knew that blank look, being intimately familiar with it. Without thinking, he tossed the keys to Fenrir over to Leon.

“Get him home, fed, and into something less singed,” he said. Leon raised an eyebrow at him.

“You sure?” And he was putting another pin in _that_ tone and _those_ implications.

“Yeah,” he responded, waving a hand dismissively. “It’s not like the house is right next door. Besides, I promised I’d help Tifa stain the chairs at the bar.” Leon stepped up to the motorcycle, holding Seifer steady as he mounted it. He turned to Cloud, his face unreadable but for his eyes. The look he gave him made Cloud want to grab him and grind against him.

“Thank you, Cloud.” Yep, there it was. The slightest husky undertone in Leon’s voice, the one he reserved specifically for ultra subtle public flirting that promised happy orgasms later. Cloud cleared his throat and Leon sat in the driver’s seat of Fenrir. He allowed himself a brief moment to admire how good Leon looked bent over Fenrir, gripping the handles, before Seifer slumped against his back, exhausted and looking like he was very near unconsciousness. Leon reached around and pulled Seifer’s arms around his waist, then sped away.

Cloud jammed his hands in his pockets and began to make his way to Seventh Heaven. The bar was open, though there were so few customers at this hour that staining the majority of the chairs, tables, and stools wouldn’t be an issue. Tifa had been avoiding it, but with Reno planning a party next month, she really didn’t have an excuse to put it off any longer. After half an hour of her subliminal hints and pouty faces, he’d relented and offered to help.

Pushing open the door to the bar, he surveyed the room. Rude was behind the bar, polishing glasses and either hanging them in the rack above his head or lining them on the shelf. The Turk had been spending more and more time at the bar, apparently deciding that worshipping Tifa up close would net him a better chance at a date with her than mooning over her from afar. On busy nights, he worked the bar with her, and Cloud had to admit that they moved around each other well. Maybe he’d have to take his well earned turn and grill Aerith for details. Between his deliveries and his affinity for spending all of his free time gravitating around Leon’s cock, he hadn’t really had the time for one-on-one gossiping with Aerith recently. It had been a few weeks, and he knew that she was probably all too eager to spill some tea. Kind as she was, she was a gossip monger with a wandering ear, bless her soul.

“Oh, you’re here,” Tifa greeted brightly. She had a tarp laid out in one corner, and a line of stools and chairs beside it. A few cans of stain, paint brushes, gloves, and some towels were spread across the tarp, and she was peeling her fingerless gloves off. “I didn’t hear you pull up.”

“Leon’s got Fenrir,” Cloud said as he picked up another chair and walked it over to the work area.

“Oh?” Cloud tried very hard not to wince.

“A friend of his landed, looks like shit. Gave him Fenrir to get him back home for some rest.” His back was turned to her, but he could feel her grin eating into him as if she’d just punched him.

“That was awfully nice of you, Cloud,” she said coyly. Cloud grit his teeth, busying himself with prying open a can of stain. “I guess you’re just a nice guy.”

“Yep,” he muttered, cursing Tifa. She was his oldest friend, and things about him that were difficult for others to understand were very plain to her. She could read him like an open book on the best-seller’s shelf. It was a blessing and a curse, but the best thing about Tifa was that she didn’t ask any questions. She simply wandered through his mind, taking note of everything that even he was too stubborn to address, fixed him with a knowing glance, and then went about her business. She grabbed up a paintbrush, a quiet smile on her face, and Cloud knew she wasn’t going to say anything else on the subject.

He stayed for a couple of hours, staining mostly chairs and stools while Tifa worked on tables. Rude turned the radio on, and she happily filled him in on how Marlene and Denzel were doing in school. At one point, Cloud caught her staring in what he knew she thought was a subtle way at Rude, and he flicked stain onto her old t-shirt to get her attention, raising an eyebrow at her. She flushed to the roots of her hair and very loudly began describing how much Cid was planning on spending to build his newest airship.

She eventually shoved a beer into his hands and kicked him out after his quiet teasing had her stammering. He sipped it as he made his way home, the sun nearly set and the street lights beginning to flicker to life one by one. A few stray Shadows appeared, but the town’s defense system singed them out of existence before they could cause anyone any trouble. Two plumes of smoke dissipated ahead of him, and Leon rounded the corner, stepping through the faint remainders of the Heartless. He finished his beer and dropped the bottle into a nearby public recycling bin, approaching his friend.

“How’s Seifer?” he asked.

“Sleeping. Heartless ships chased him for a week before he reached the safe zone,” Leon said. Cloud crossed his arms.

“That’s a bad time,” he said.

“More or less,” Leon agreed. “Thanks for letting me borrow Fenrir. She’s in the garage.”

“It’s no big deal,” Cloud said dismissively, waving a hand.

“Bullshit.” Cloud looked up at Leon sharply. “You wouldn’t even let me drive the damn thing when your arm was broken.” He stepped up to Cloud, so close their chests were nearly touching. “You let me have it for brownie points.” Cloud couldn’t stop the smirk from spreading across his face, his body humming with anticipation.

“You can’t prove it,” he challenged lamely. He took a step backward into the conveniently placed alley; they both knew that Cloud was being facetious with the sole intent on luring Leon into the alley to soil it further. Leon pinned him to the brick wall with a hungry, predatory gaze, and Cloud felt a shiver run through him. He tried not to dwell too long on how feeling like prey made his entire body throb with need, and he lunged forward and gripped at Leon’s waist, slamming him against the wall and attaching his lips to his neck. Leon groaned low in his throat, and Cloud reveled in the noise for just a moment before palming Leon’s cock through his pants.

\---

Morning found Cloud blinking sleepily at his phone, a message from Tifa detailing a delivery he needed to take three towns over. He frowned, knowing that the run would take all day. He shuffled from his bed, rifling through drawers and pulling out the clothes he’d put on after his shower. A soft knock on his door preceded Leon stepping through, wearing nothing but his boxer briefs. Cloud appraised him with a heavy gaze, feeling his stomach flip as his mind swiftly conjured images of what they’d done before, of what they were going to do in moments, if he was reading Leon’s expression correctly.

He was usually right, and this morning was no exception.

The house was a little chilly, temperatures having dropped in the night without either of them turning the heat on, so Leon dragged them both under Cloud’s blankets and pulled them over their heads, grinning wolfishly as he moved down Cloud’s body to mouth at his cock. Cloud eventually came down Leon’s throat, nearly biting through his lip to keep from crying out, fingers wrenching in brown hair that was so, so much softer than he’d ever expected it to be. Leon prowled back up Cloud’s body, licking his lips and smirking and looking good enough to eat. Which sounded like a really, really great idea.

Cloud flipped them, tugging and shoving and huffing until Leon was up on his knees, bent forward into Cloud’s pillow. His body was tense in anticipation, and Cloud brushed the tip of one finger across Leon’s hole. The brunet shuddered, and Cloud grinned. He rocked forward and let his tongue settle on the dark little furrow, swirling around it as Leon struggled for composure. He kissed around the tense muscle, laving at it with his tongue until Leon settled into the pillow with a low groan, and Cloud finally felt him relax. He pushed his tongue just past the tight muscle, delving into him and relishing in the way Leon pushed back against his face. He pulled away, just long enough to grab the lube he kept on his nightstand and pour some onto his fingers. It was flavoured, mild and almost crisp like starfruit, and he slowly worked a slick digit into Leon while his tongue danced around the outside, stroking and tasting and soothing. Leon rocked his hips backward, and Cloud added a second finger soon, and then a third when Leon’s panting grew ragged.

Cloud sat back on his shins, scooting as close as he could get to Leon, and wrapped his free hand around the brunet’s thick cock as he drilled his fingers within him. A breathy whine escaped Leon, and he muffled a loud moan into the pillow when Cloud pressed all three fingers against his prostate in quick succession. He worked at the head of Leon’s cock and toyed with Leon’s prostate until the other man came with a choked groan, coating the inside of Cloud’s fist and clenching around his fingers so hard Cloud didn’t think he’d ever get them back. What a way to go, Cloud mused to himself as he kissed Leon’s lower back. He gently withdrew his fingers and unwrapped his hand from Leon’s cock, and the brunet tipped to his side, collapsing heavily on the bed and looking thoroughly fucked out. Cloud stared right into hazy blue eyes as he licked his fingers clean of Leon’s seed. Leon’s gaze was thick and heavy lidded, and his body seemed tense despite the orgasm, like he was half a second away from making some kind of movement. Cloud refused to chew on that at all, thinking that he already had enough things he needed to cross examine under a microscope. He stood from the bed and stretched.

“I’ve got a job today, I’ll probably be back late,” he said as he gathered his clothes from his dresser. He frowned to himself a little, both surprised and not when he heard the words slipping from his mouth. That deserved a pin, he thought. The list was growing.

“That’s fine. Seifer will probably want to head out to buy clothes that aren’t burned, and I want him to meet everyone,” Leon said. ‘Everyone’, Cloud knew, meant all of their friends. That Leon wanted to drag him around and introduce him after a day of shopping made Cloud itch. Refusing to dwell on that too, he stepped into his bathroom.

As it turned out, the delivery didn’t take quite _all_ day, but the sun was low in the sky when Cloud finally pulled in the attached garage and he was tired. His ass hurt from sitting on his bike all day, and he’d dealt with Heartless, Nobodies, and even a couple of ballsy kids trying to disassemble Fenrir. He let himself into his house and hung his keys on the small rack beside the door, eyeing the fridge and hoping he had some beer left. He couldn’t get drunk like other people could; if anything, his inhibitions and filter left him, but he seemed incapable of becoming inebriated like most, thanks to his time as a mako pickle. He popped the cap on the beer regardless, taking a long pull and sighing contentedly. He was about to dig through the freezer to see about a shitty TV dinner when he caught the sound of murmured voices and Leon’s deep, throaty chuckle.

Cloud wandered into the living room to see Leon and Seifer sprawled across the couch, carry out Wutanese in open containers in front of them and some muted half hour sitcom playing on the TV. Cloud hovered back, curious. Closed captioning was off and Seifer had begun ad-libbing a scene between two characters who seemed to be having a food fight in a children’s bounce house. Cloud watched several minutes of their bizarre little ritual; Seifer seemed to be doing most of the mouthwork, and Leon was chuckling heartily, chiming in on occasion with a nudge to Seifer’s shoulder. He didn’t think he could recall a time he’d ever seen Leon smile so much. Ignoring the churn of his stomach, Cloud stepped further into the room and dropped into an armchair. Leon’s eyes tracked to him, and the easy grin shifted into a smirk.

“Back from your delivery early?” he observed.

“How’d you guess?” Cloud said dryly.

“Are deliveries usually dangerous?” Seifer asked, eyeballing a few scratches on Cloud’s arm.

“Those aren’t even from Heartless,” he answered, his lip curling in distaste. Leon raised a questioning brow at him. “Kids trying to take Fenrir. Again.”

“I installed that cloaking device for a reason,” Leon groused. Cloud shrugged. “I think you just like beating up kids.” Cloud smirked, refusing to confirm or deny, and pointed at the TV with the neck of his beer bottle.

“What are you watching?” Leon offered him a small smile, looking somewhat sheepish, which surprised Cloud and definitely, kind of, maybe made his stomach lurch. Not necessarily in the good way, either.

“We’re not really sure what it is. This is just something we used to do back… well, before,” Leon said.

“It’s better with more people and more liquor,” Seifer added. “Want in?”

Cloud considered the offer for a moment, wondered if he chimed in on things if he could draw one of those smiles out of Leon, and the thought startled him into standing abruptly.

“I think I’ll pass and just head off to bed,” he told them, quietly pleased with himself for keeping his voice from betraying how suddenly tense he felt. He raised his beer to them in farewell and made a beeline for the stairs.

He settled on his bed, kicking his shoes off and taking another drink from his beer. He opened his little mental file and picked apart all of the things that had made him uncomfortable in the last twelve hours and was absolutely disgusted by the _why_. The what was hardly an issue, he thought; a catalyst that could have been anything. The way Seifer and Leon had been bent in toward one another and then casually separated when Cloud entered the room. The easy way Leon smiled at the things Seifer said, the way laughter tumbled from his lips, laughter that was, for Cloud, so hard earned. Cloud unclenched the fist he hadn’t realized he’d made and his lip curled. Jealousy. Well, shit. Since when did he, Cloud fucking Strife, get jealous? Especially over someone who wasn’t even his to begin with. There wasn’t any commitment. He and Leon weren’t exclusive, but he supposed there had just never been anyone else, and so no discussions of that nature had been necessary.

With a displeased grunt, Cloud hauled himself out of bed and tried his best not to stomp into his bathroom. He stripped and dumped his sweaty clothes onto the floor, then adjusted the water in the shower until it felt like it had risen from hell. He stepped in and flinched at the heat, but forced himself to stay under it until his skin reddened and his nerve endings stopped screaming. He rested his head against the tile and tried to shove Leon from his mind, beyond frustrated with himself for growing so disconsolate in such a short time frame. Shampooing his hair only made him think of Leon’s fingers tangled in it, that he needed a trim, and he frowned, scrubbing harder at his scalp. He washed the grit from his body and finished his shower feeling no better than before, if only cleaner. He dried off, dropping the wet towel on top of his pile of dirty clothes and walked back into his bedroom to see Leon lounging on his bed, flicking through his phone. The sight made Cloud’s stomach flip in arousal, and then a very unwelcome churn of his gut followed.

“Did you need something?” Cloud asked, hating himself for the bitter edge in his voice. If Leon noticed, he didn’t say anything. He simply glanced down at his body, and then over to Cloud’s own nude form.

“Since when have you ever said anything other than ‘yes, please’ to sex?” Leon asked. Cloud ran a hand through his damp hair.

“I’m just tired. It was a long day,” he said wearily, avoiding eye contact. He had a feeling that if he stared straight into Leon’s eyes right now, the brunet would see all sorts of unpleasant things. Leon, however, gave a slight shrug, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and standing.

“Sure, I get that. You know where to find me if you change your mind,” he murmured, and Cloud’s body nearly sang in response as Leon brushed past him. As Leon walked out his door, he fought back the urge to call out for him, to tell him to stay. But this was real life, not a bad rom-com or one of Yuffie’s ridiculous friend fiction stories. He’d already been behaving strangely, there was no point in adding any more fuel to that particular fire. Leon shut the door quietly behind him, leaving Cloud alone with his thoughts once more. Cloud frowned and threw himself down onto his bed, rolling into his pillow and breathing in the lingering scent of Leon. He crinkled his nose at his own absurdity and rolled over. His lamp was still on, the lightswitch across the room by the door. Scowling, he reached down and pulled the plug from the wall, refusing to get up. He punched his pillow into submission and thrashed around in bed until he found a comfortable position in which to lie awake for the next six hours.

Fuck.

\---

Over the course of the next month, Cloud steeled his resolve and concentrated on not acting like a jealous tramp. He was kept plenty busy with delivery runs, most of which involved driving out of town and bringing things back to the bar in preparation for Reno’s party. The week before, he helped Tifa and Rude rearrange the freshly stained tables and chairs, allowing for more uninhibited movement.

The nights he came back from a delivery were the easiest. He was able to feign exhaustion and retire to his room, where he would seethe in solitude, stomach roiling at every bark of laughter that filtered upstairs. Other nights, he forced himself to sit in an armchair with Seifer and Leon on the couch and try not to think about how close they sat as they played an ancient video game on a console that barely worked anymore. On those nights, Leon would slip into his room silently and they’d fuck as quietly as they could. Cloud loved and hated these nights. He’d been with Leon so sporadically since Seifer arrived, and he craved his touch more than he thought he would. But for Leon to come to him only after Seifer had fallen asleep for the night, or if he were out of the house and exploring… Cloud refused to think on how much it stung. Leon wasn’t  _his_. His mood began to sour, and it didn’t exactly go unnoticed.

Reno’s party, though, didn’t seem to be anything he could fake sleepiness about and go home to sulk. He’d tried to back out on multiple occasions, but his friends seemed hell-bent on the contrary. Leon told him to sack up and show some support for his friend, and to just enjoy himself. Cloud, without missing a beat, said that Reno was no friend of his and that he was uninterested in reveling in anything the red-head thought was worth a party. Yuffie came by and told him that if he didn’t show up that she would never speak to him again. Cloud told her that he could only hope to be so lucky. He was helping Tifa unload cases of liquor for said party when Aerith, who had been helping Rude shelve them, told him that it would be good for his health if he attended. He was about to (very politely, because he loved Aerith and would never want to hurt her feelings) decline, but the look in her eyes very clearly told him that _she_ was in charge of his health. He swallowed and quickly agreed to join the party. He was blessed with a kiss on his cheek for his fear before she flounced away to unpack another carton.

Saturday evening rolled around, and Cloud purposefully spilled sauce on his shirt just avoid having to walk to the bar as Leon and Seifer’s third wheel. Leon gave him a flat look and rolled his eyes, wheeling Seifer out the front door by his elbow. He stripped his shirt off and tossed it in the wash, and then changed into a clean one, waiting an extra ten minutes before leaving the house. He shoved his hands into his pockets and set out at a crawl, taking his sweet time. He took the longest way possible, stopping along his way to cast Firaga at Heartless before the town’s defense system could activate. He still reached the bar too soon for comfort. He could hear music being played inside, and Reno himself was standing outside the door, checking invitations or ushering in his friends and turning away hopeful barflies. Cloud tried one last time to make his great escape.

“Oh no,” he said, his voice barely a notch above deadpan. “Sorry, Reno. I left my invitation in my other pants. Guess I’ll just mosey on home,” he said, taking a quick step backwards. Reno’s arm shot out and wrapped around his shoulders, tugging him closer.

“Nonsense, Blondie! Your invitation was just a formality! You know you’ve got auto-entry to any and _all_ soirees, my friend!” Reno expounded graciously, thumping Cloud on the back and turning him toward the door. Cloud grimaced and slunk away from his touchy host. As he was scoping out a corner of the bar to hide in for the night, he was approached by Leon, holding two beers, and found himself wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

“Nice try back there,” Leon said by way of greeting, a smirk fixed on his face.

“I tried,” Cloud muttered, reaching out to take the beer Leon was holding out for him. Long, tanned, calloused fingers brushed over his as he gripped the bottle and he froze, his entire body seizing at the contact. Leon brushed his thumb across Cloud’s fingers and then vanished. Cloud looked up at Leon, surprised by the contact in a very public place. He’d leaned in close, and Cloud could feel his breathing halt.

“Well, at least _try_ to enjoy yourself, Cloud,” he murmured, withdrawing before any attention could be drawn to them. He walked off, disappearing into the crowd, leaving Cloud feeling stunned and flustered. Frowning to himself, he itched at his fingers and made his way to the bar. He found Tifa there, arguing with a large man with a high and tight.

“Tifa, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you bartending?” Cloud asked. Tifa threw her hands up, scowling.

“Ask Reno! He won’t let me serve anyone!” she fumed.

“Why not?”

“Because he’s got a death wish,” she growled, clenching her fists. The bartender remained wholly unbothered.

“Reno says his friends should be enjoying the party, not working,” the large bartender said, his voice quiet and even. Tifa pointed at him and shot Cloud a disbelieving look, her face still furious. Cloud bit back a smile and ordered two shots of tequila.

“You look like you could use one,” he said, gently lowering her hand. Tifa appeared thoughtful.

“I could, but why did you order one? You never drink,” she said. Cloud frowned.

“I could use a drink or ten tonight,” he grumbled, picking up his shot and tossing it back. He ordered another immediately, and Tifa paused with her hand hovering over her own shot glass.

“Just give us the bottle,” she said to the bartender, palm outstretched. “There’s more in the back, under the case of grenadine.” The bartender obediently placed the bottle on the bar, and Tifa grabbed it by the neck and tugged at Cloud’s hand.

“Come on, Blondie,” she said. He allowed himself to be pulled along, grumbling to himself about how he was going to dye his hair blue if people kept calling him that. Tifa set them down at a table in the corner and poured another round into the shot glasses Cloud had swiped. Cloud took his shot and poured another. Tifa raised an eyebrow at him.

“So, we’re going to play a guessing game,” she began. Cloud frowned into his shot glass. Her sharp eyes settled on him, and he fought the urge to squirm under her gaze. “I’m going to try to guess what’s been eating a hole through your cheese.”

“This doesn’t sound like fun,” he complained.

“Yuffie thinks you’re getting laid, and I agree with her,” she charged on. “And I think it’s Leon. Take a drink if I’m right,” she finished with a grin. Cloud held up a finger for pause.

“For the record, I was going to take a drink regardless of the question, or that nasty little bit you added to the end,” he snapped, frowning at her triumphant smirk. He tossed his shot back and poured yet another. Tifa’s smirk fell from her face, replaced with soft concern.

“So when did all of this start? You know, so I know whether or not to collect my money from Yuffie,” she said, biting back a smile. Cloud narrowed his eyes at her.

“You bet on whether or not I was getting laid?”

“Oh, no. We bet on _who_ you were sleeping with. I said Leon. Aerith suggested Rufus. You don’t want to know who Yuffie suggested,” Tifa responded pleasantly. Cloud glowered; he really hated his friends sometimes. Tifa helpfully kicked his leg under the table. “So - when?”

“ _If_ , and that is a large if, anything were going on between Leon and I, it would have started almost five months ago now,” he said in a conspiratorially low voice. Tifa nodded sagely.

“And if things did start nearly five months ago, what would have the capability of throwing a wrench in your carefully laid bed?” Cloud rolled his eyes, sucking down more than a shot straight from the bottle. “Or is it a who?” she whispered dramatically. Cloud narrowed his eyes at her again, deciding that gossiping about his sex life while she was drinking was a terrible idea that he was never, ever going to participate in ever again. Her shrewd garnet eyes roamed the bar until she found Leon. Or, Cloud assumed, because there’s no way he was going to gawk about. He watched her brow furrow, and then she turned back to him.

“Is Seifer cockblocking you?” she asked. Cloud huffed.

“You’ve been hanging around Reno too much,” he said waspishly. He hoped his irritation would deter her, but she’d lit up. Of course she did.

Fucking Tifa.

“Do you think Seifer and Leon were a thing? He said they got close after everything fell apart with Sephiroth and the -” Cloud cut her off with a severe look. She held her hands up placatingly. “Okay, I get it. But he didn’t even get along with Seifer until after you left, and it was a long while after that that the darkness came.”

“Well, they hang off each other enough, giggle like fucking schoolgirls when they’re near each other _enough_ , snuggle on the goddamn _couch_ …” he trailed off, grumbling into the bottle as he took another swig. At some point during his rant, Tifa had stood and made her way to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and resting her cheek against his head. “Why do I have a feeling you’re about to tell me something I don’t want to hear?” he asked, defeated.

“What if Zack showed up?”

Low blow.

“Zack’s not going to show up,” he said roughly.

“I’m sure Leon thought that about the rest of his friends, too. Gone forever, dead and sucked into a black hole somewhere,” she said gently. Cloud swatted her away.

“Must you be so graphic?” he demanded crankily. Tifa shrugged.

“It’s my coping mechanism,” she dismissed.

“Yeah? Well, it fucking sucks,” he muttered. He sunk back into his chair with the tequila, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be sharing the bottle with Tifa. He thought on what she’d said and he realized that he had know idea how he’d react if Zack had been the one to tumble out of a battered ship. A small, gentle voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Aerith’s told him that his reaction probably would have been much the same, and that only fueled his anger.

“Cloud, what are you doing?” Tifa grabbed his arm and that pulled him from his quickly spiralling thoughts. He blinked and looked around; he’d stood from the table and was already several steps away from it. “Are you actually drunk, Cloud?” she asked, her voice laden with concern. Cloud furrowed his brow, but shook his head.

“No, but I might’ve blacked out,” he admitted. Tifa bit her lip and slipped her hand into his.

“Come back to the table. We can get some water and -”

“No, Tifa,” he snapped, yanking his arm out of her grip. “This guy can’t just wander in and suck Leon up like some slums hooker. And if Leon wants to be with him, then he might as well get  _on_ with it,” he growled. He stomped away from her, heading for Leon and Seifer. The taller blond saw him first and smiled in greeting. Cloud was infuriated with how handsome he looked, and for a moment, his resolve faltered. No wonder Leon liked him. Taller than them both, handsome, and from what he’d seen, a competent pilot and swordsman. He was easy to talk to and maybe a little temperamental, but Cloud would have been blind to have noticed that the man never lacked for friendly conversation wherever he went. Fine, if that’s how it was going to be… Cloud squared his jaw and kept walking toward them. Leon turned and looked like he was about to say something, but one look at Cloud’s expression and he thought better of it.

“Hey, Cloud. I didn’t know if you’d decided to come or not,” Seifer said conversationally.

“I bet,” Cloud muttered. Seifer raised an eyebrow, but he wasn’t born yesterday, and he kept quiet.

“Who put lemons in your milk?” Leon asked boldly, his brow furrowed. Cloud stepped forward, right into Leon’s space. He watched his lover’s brows raise and took some small, grim satisfaction in it.

“Why don’t you ask your friend,” he spat, shifting his glare to Seifer.

“Me?” Cloud barely knew the man, but he knew that tone. It was the same one Leon adopted when he was about to verbally and then physically grind someone into a fine polish to use on his gunblade. “What the hell -”

“I’ll tell you what you did,” Cloud snapped, rounding on Seifer. “You walk into this place like you fucking own it and everyone here. You’ve been gone for _years_. Leon, and everyone else, built a life here, and then you show up and try to rip him out of it?” Cloud could feel Leon’s gaze on him, but turning and catching that blue gaze would dismantle him in an instant.

“He rebuilt this place from the ground up, him and everyone else here, _without you_ around to distract him. You’re not the only one in his life anymore, and you’re not the only one who gives a damn about him,” he said, his voice low and dark. He had to resist the urge to shove the other man, but starting a fight at Reno’s party would only bring Aerith’s wrath down on him, and yeah, he could handle Sephiroth, but not her. “It’s about time you climbed off your high fucking horse and realized that his world doesn’t revolve around _you_ anymore.” Cloud offered him one final sneer and then turned and left the bar, feeling less like a person and more like a storm. He caught a flash of Leon’s face as he was leaving, and for half a moment, he regretted his actions. Then he set his jaw and shouldered the doors open, forcibly telling himself that his only regret was not grabbing a fresh bottle of tequila on the way out.

\---

Leon stared after Cloud, blinking and confused and angry. He turned to Seifer, who looked just as confused and twice as angry.

“I’m sorry about him. He’s got some issues,” Leon said, trying to convey as clearly as possible that he was just as furious with his friend’s outburst.

“No shit,” Seifer growled. “What the fuck was that? I’ve never _once_ talked about leaving here with you, or asking you to leave, or,” he flailed a hand through the air, “anything he vomited up just now.” Leon pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily.

“I know, I know,” he said.

“So are you, uh, going after him? He seemed distressed,” Seifer said. He took a drink from his beer and glanced at Leon over the rim of the glass, amusement shining in his eyes. Leon squinted at his friend.

“No. I really don’t feel like fighting tonight, and running after him now would be giving him exactly what he wants.”

“I wasn’t talking about fighting him, Squall,” Seifer said as innocently as he could manage. Which, for Leon, wasn’t very innocent at all. Leon glowered at his friend and poked him hard in the chest. Seifer had always been his mirror image in so many ways, and one of them was that they felt many things very similarly. It was sometimes a good thing, and sometimes the bane of his existence. Like now.

“Whatever you’re implying, don’t. I’m here for Reno and free beer. Cloud can throw his tantrums all he wants, but I’ll leave here when I feel like it.” He narrowed his eyes at Seifer. “Or when you puke everywhere.”

“I get sick at a bar _one_ time,” Seifer muttered. He shook his head and left to get another round, leaving Leon to fume to himself. He sat down at their table against the wall and scanned the room, curious to see if anyone else had witnessed Cloud’s meltdown and taken to gossiping yet. He was honestly surprised that Aerith wasn’t hovering nearby, waiting to swoop in and extract what had happened with surgeon’s precision. Instead, he caught Tifa’s gaze. She was staring at him intently, her face crinkled with worry. Her eyes seemed to say, ‘I’m so sorry’. Leon hoped his said ‘I’ll try to leave some form of identification on Cloud’s mangled corpse’.

Not that this was in any way Tifa’s fault. She couldn’t help that Cloud was emotionally stunted and cagier than a pet store. Heaven above knew the poor woman had tried hard enough to unscramble Cloud’s brain. Leon was personally of the opinion that she deserved some sort of award for the patience she had for dealing with Cloud. Or maybe a psychology degree.

“I need your attention, yo!” Reno announced suddenly, his naturally loud voice carrying through the din of the bar. “Thanks for comin’ out tonight. I hate chit-chat-” He was promptly cut off by nearly half the bar’s disagreement, everyone having, at some point, been caught by the fiery chatterbox. “- so I’ll cut right to the chase!” Settled at the bar not too far from Reno, his coworkers were shuffling around, finalizing their bets on what Reno was up to. Elena and Rude were quietly discussing their bets, Tseng looked bored, and Rufus was happily taking advantage of free martinis. “Yuffie!” Reno shouted, casting about for her. “Where are you? Since when have you ever been shy…”

“Is he going to propose to her?” Seifer asked, silently approaching the table and taking his seat, eyes on the host of the party.

“God, I hope not,” Leon muttered. His eyes tracked to Yuffie as she walked out to Reno, a slight flush on her cheeks. She looked very pretty in a little red dress and heels that put her more on par with Reno’s lanky height. Leon had never seen her dressed up, but he had to admit that she wore a cocktail dress well. Reno reached out to her with his left hand and took one of hers, flashing her a bright smile.

“You’re almost as cool as I am, midge,” he said. “You can’t cook and your hair looks like a malboro on a bender in the morning, but I like having you around.” He reached into his pocket with his free hand and produced a small black box. A collective gasp buzzed through the bar, and even Rufus put his drink down and leaned over Tseng’s shoulder. Elena had Rude’s arm in a death grip, and Leon caught sight of Aerith shoving her way closer, her green eyes huge and looking incredibly put out that she hadn’t heard _something_ about this before now. Yuffie looked at the box and then back up at her boyfriend, her eyes wide. Leon had just enough time to exchange an unreadable glance with Tifa, and then Reno popped the box open with a flick of his thumb.

“Will you move in with me?” he asked, as sincerely as he could manage. Grinning widely, Yuffie produced shiny silver key from the box and threw her arms around Reno, nearly toppling them.

“Son of a bitch!” Elena cursed loudly. Rude somehow managed to look disappointed even with his sunglasses obscuring his eyes, and they were all placing bills into the hands of a very smug Tseng.

“Is everyone here completely guano?” Seifer asked.

“Not _everyone_ , but there’s a reason Reeve is dyeing his goatee,” Leon said.

\---

Cloud lay awake in bed, unable to sleep. He’d found a few bottles of liquor in a cabinet in the kitchen, and brought them upstairs with him. The bottle of rum, which had been only half full to begin with, now decorated the floor, empty and forgotten as he worked his way through a bottle of whiskey. Not that anything was really happening. The mako in his bloodstream filtered everything out too quickly for any physical symptoms to take over, and he was cursing it all the more now. Sure, the enhanced strength and healing it offered him was dead useful in a fight, but right now all he wanted to do was get blindingly pissed and hopefully choke on his own vomit in his sleep.

He’d… actually done that. Actually confronted Seifer in the worst possible way. It had felt vindicating at the time, but he’d known in the back of his mind that it was all over. Now that thought was front and center. Everything he’d cultivated with Leon over nearly half a year was gone, swept aside by his own anger and jealousy. None of this had even been his idea in the first place. If Leon had just kept his mouth shut about everything - no, if _Yuffie_ had never brought up that ridiculous conversation at the bar that night, then none of this would have happened. He and Leon would have remained friends, and maybe he’d even have been able to be friends with Seifer. He never would have known what Leon’s calloused fingers felt like brushing across his chest, would never have known the feel of him moving within him, thick and sure and strong. Wouldn’t currently be trying in vain to drink himself into a coma.

He heard the front door click open and frowned, taking another pull of whiskey and forcing himself to stay in bed. He clamped his eyes shut and tried very hard to will his ears into not working, but he remained acutely aware of booted footsteps growing ever closer, and it was actually impossible to ignore the door opening. The empty bottle rolled across the floor as it was nudged with the toe of Leon’s boot.

“You actually tried to get drunk?” he asked, nose crinkling in disdain. Cloud refused to look at him.

“What if I said I succeeded?” he asked. He could almost hear Leon frown.

“Then you’d be a liar and the most selfish person in the world,” Leon said caustically.

“There are so many worlds out there, Leonhart, that being the most selfish man on this one is hardly an issue for me,” Cloud answered, inwardly cringing at his melodrama. Maybe alcohol _did_ have an effect on him, of a kind.

“What you did back there was absurd,” Leon began, ignoring Cloud’s dramatics. “Seifer isn’t trying to pull me away from anywhere or anyone. He’s still getting used to this place, and I’m the only familiar face he’s got,” he snapped. Cloud was suddenly reminded that none of Leon’s other friends had shown back up, at least not yet. People that he’d trained and fought with and nearly died for that were still missing. Cloud stood from his bed abruptly, pushing those thoughts down, his eyes flashing dangerously.

“Then why is it that you’ve only come around me for a quick fuck and nothing else for the last month? You’ve been orbiting him like he’s the fucking sun and practically glued yourself to his hip,” he snarled. Leon blinked at him incredulously.

“You’re jealous. Oh my god, you’re _jealous_ ,” he said quietly, almost disbelieving. He ran a hand through his hair, looking away from Cloud.

“That’s a sweet sentiment, but no, I’m not,” Cloud barked, a little too loudly, a little too quickly. He could feel panic begin to creep up his spine. “I just can’t believe that you of all people would develop such tunnel vision the minute an old boyfriend walks into town,” he finished, his words dripping with what he hoped was enough contempt to hide his growing alarm. Leon had turned to face a wall, but he whirled around to face Cloud, gaping at him.

“You - you think Seifer was my boyfriend?” he asked quickly. “Your brain’s pickled with too much mako.” He ignored Cloud’s snarled ‘fuck you’ and charged onward. “He dated my ex-girlfriend. We barely got along for the longest time. How do you think I got this scar?” He pointed to his face. “He picked the wrong side, we were _enemies_ , I stopped him, he turned over a new leaf, et cetera,” Leon snapped, waving a hand impatiently. “We became friends.” Cloud narrowed his eyes.

“Then I’m just imagining the fact that you all but cuddle and imrov rom-coms every fucking night?” he snapped. Leon crossed his arms and returned Cloud’s glare. It was a weak argument and Cloud knew it, knew Leon knew it, too.

“Best friends do weird, stupid shit like this. If you’d chill the fuck out for five minutes of your life, maybe you could have a dumb inside-joke game with someone, too,” Leon said, an edge of finality lining his words. Unbidden, Tifa’s words about Zack surged to the front of his mind. The love they’d had, his loyalty and passion for him. He thought of how Zack had been with anyone he considered a friend, whether they felt the same or not: affectionate, handsy, always in their personal space without being a nuisance at all. He remembered the picture Reno had showed him of Zack and Sephiroth passed out on a couch together after returning to Midgar. Sephiroth, General of SOLDIER and beloved by the people, who cultivated a three foot radius of ‘don’t fucking touch me’ around himself, was sprawled atop Zack, arms wrapped around his middle and face buried into his neck. Zack’s free arm dangled off the couch and his other hand was threaded into Sephiroth’s luxurious silver mane, and his leg that wasn’t pinned beneath Sephiroth was hiked up his hip. After the picture had been taken and they’d woken up some hours later, Sephiroth was mortified and most certainly would have tried to kill Reno if Zack hadn’t stepped in and soothed him. Zack had literally cuddled with _Sephiroth_ , fallen asleep and been covered in the General’s drool. He certainly hadn’t been jealous then, because it was simply the way Zack was. Guilty and embarrassed, Cloud’s expression darkened and he refused to meet Leon’s gaze. Leon scowled, his nostrils flaring.

“So this is how it’s going to be? You know you’re wrong and that you fucked up, and now you won’t say anything?” Cobalt eyes flashed angrily. “And what if I left now? What if I went back to Seifer right now - would you still assume we’re fucking?” Cloud felt a spike of rage at the thought. If Leon was here, where was Seifer? Had Leon left him alone at the party? It wasn’t that late, it was probably still going. Seifer would be lonely, drinking in a strange bar, surrounded by people he didn’t know well. If Leon went to him now -

Before Leon could turn to leave, Cloud turned and shoved him against a wall. His lip curled in a snarl and his eyes were nearly glowing with mako energy. Leon stared right back, defiant, unafraid, and it only made Cloud want him more.

“You’re mine, Squall,” he growled. His voice was gravelly and low and angry, as if whatever jealous beast that dwelled within had clawed and scraped its way up his throat to rear its head. Leon didn’t react immediately, blinking in surprised confusion and grasping at Cloud’s wrists. Cloud tightened his grip on Leon’s shirt and that seemed to break the other man out of his shock. Something in Leon must have recognized that he was being manhandled, because he gripped Cloud’s forearms and jerked them so that they crossed his chest painfully. He shoved at Cloud hard, pinning him against the wall beside the nightstand with his forearm across the blond’s throat.

“I don’t belong to anyone, Strife,” he snarled. With a low growl, Cloud brought a knee up and shoved it into Leon’s gut, kicking him away. Leon stumbled backward with a little wheeze; his eyes darkened with anger as he looked up, then he lunged at Cloud, his fist connecting with his nose. Pain bloomed across Cloud’s face, blood beginning to drip from both nostrils, and he growled low in fury, taking a swaggering step forward and punching Leon in the jaw. Leon’s lower lip split open, cut between his teeth and Cloud’s knuckles, made Cloud ill to see it. They stared one another down; Cloud knew that if they kept fighting like this, they’d eventually level two and a half blocks in their rage. They both knew powerful magics, even if they chose not to use their swords against one another. Leon made the decision for him, shouldering past him and heading for the door.

“If you leave, this door is shut for good. Don’t come back,” Cloud said, unable to keep the tremour from his voice. His throat felt raw and sliced to ribbons just saying those words. He wanted to take them back immediately, take back the whole night and just wake up to a new day where none of this had ever happened. He was sick in his stomach and he wished he could blame the alcohol instead of his own toxic behaviour, but he didn’t even have that luxury. Leon paused and Cloud thought he might turn around, but he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

It may as well have been a coffin lid slamming shut, for all its finality.

Refusing to allow himself time to stare at the door longingly with tears in his eyes, Cloud turned and swept the lamp from his bedside table, sending it crashing to the floor. The light extinguished, and only the half full moon provided any light in his trashed bedroom. He kicked aside the broken lamp and dropped into his bed. He hadn’t been this mentally worn down in a long, long while. Even fighting Sephiroth failed to drain him this badly anymore. He didn’t want to think anymore. He didn’t want to be conscious, either, but some higher being hated him enough to prevent sleep from descending over him. He lay awake in the quiet darkness of his room, hating himself more and more by the minute.

Only an hour passed, maybe a little more than that, when he heard footsteps again. They drew nearer and Cloud could feel his face pulling into a grimace. Before the door could open fully, Cloud was on his feet. When Lean stepped through the threshold, he was greeted with a Buster Sword in his face.

“Get out,” Cloud warned. He pitched his voice low and dangerous in an effort to hide the fact that he was half a step away from crumbling like some kind of hollow, decrepit house. Which was how he felt, really, so it wasn’t too bad a simile. The cold, sharp edge of the old sword pressed against Leon’s cheek, and he screwed up all his remaining energy to look Leon in the eye. He was fairly certain his eyes were giving literally everything away, but Leon’s were carefully blank, schooled into neutrality and giving Cloud nothing to work with.

Leon lifted his hand to push the sword away, but Cloud twisted his wrist and sliced Leon’s cheek open. It was a small, shallow cut that didn’t even bleed properly. He didn’t want to add another scar to Leon’s face - he just wanted him to leave, so Cloud could lick his wounds in peace and figure out just how far into the Dark Depths he’d have to go to hide for the rest of his life. Cloud _almost_ wished that Sephiroth would crash through the ceiling and give him an excuse to dash away, but he’d never been very lucky.

He was too busy thinking of how nice it would be if spontaneous combustion were really a thing to anticipate Leon’s movement. The other man moved at a blinding speed, and he suddenly found himself disarmed, the Buster Sword flying from his grip and biting into a chair in the far corner of his room. Leon advanced upon him, and Cloud was ready for another fight when Leon instead pushed his hand into his blond spikes and kissed him hard. Taken aback by a move so bold, Cloud froze for a moment. One fleeting thought told him to enjoy the kiss, but the rest of his senses flooded back to him and he shoved Leon away, slugging him in the jaw again. Leon growled and wrestled Cloud to the bed, pinning his arms at his sides. Cloud struggled, but Leon held him in place with seemingly very little effort. It was a blow to Cloud’s pride, but he blamed it on his nuclear emotions. He glared up at Leon, and thought briefly about spitting on him.

“I told you not to come back here. I’m not going to be your second wind.” His own voice startled him. It was fractured, hurt, unsteady. Defeated. Gods above, but he’d never hated himself more.

Leon rolled those carefully guarded eyes, and before Cloud could headbutt him, he leaned down and kissed him again. Cloud furrowed his brow and bit Leon’s lower lip harshly, cracking the wound open again and tasting the metallic tang of blood. Leon hissed and pulled back, licking at his lip.

“You’re a fucking idiot, Cloud.”

Cloud blinked at him, incredulous.

“Namecalling now? Very mature, Leonhart,” Cloud snapped. Leon rolled his eyes again, and Cloud had the brief, half hysterical thought that if they rolled any further back into his head, they’d be bowling balls.

“I told Seifer to stay with Cid for the night. I explained things to him, and he thinks you’re a moron, too.”

“What are you talking about?” Cloud demanded. Leon sighed, exasperated.

“It’s getting old, stop being dumb. You’re sick with the impossible thought that I left to fuck Seifer.” Nail on the head, Cloud thought caustically. His glare persisted. “I didn’t, so stop being a jealous little shit and tell me what you want.” He freed Cloud’s arms and sat up, straddling his waist. Cloud left his arms where they were and stared up at the ceiling.

“If you don’t quit the petulant child act, I’m leaving.” There was a threat in Leon’s tone, the threat of finality and truth, but Cloud couldn’t bring himself to meet his gaze. He felt and heart Leon sigh in frustration.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered. He hauled himself off of Cloud, off the bed they’d shared so often. “Goodbye, Cloud.” He strode toward the door. Cloud sat up, and a hundred things flew threw his mind. This he could say, things he could do, apologies he could make and forgiveness he could ask for. They all fell thick and unwieldy on his tongue. He stood and was behind Leon before he even realized what he was doing, and his words blew past his brain’s security checkpoint like they had a fucking multipass.

“I don’t want you to fuck anyone else.”

Leon paused, his hand not even on the doorknob yet. Silence drummed in Cloud’s ears, stretching on for days before Leon turned around, those cobalt eyes still cool and masked, giving nothing away. His expression was expertly guarded, and in any other situation, Cloud would have wondered if the mercenary academy Leon had attended had given classes on how to look like a statue. “I don’t want you to touch anyone else,” Cloud continued, “or even consider being with anyone else but me.”

“Why?” Leon asked, crossing his arms. Cloud dropped his eyes, shame and embarrassment and something he wanted to call hope but didn’t dare name preventing him from meeting Leon’s gaze.

“Because… you’re as fucked up as I am.” While true, it wasn’t his best line, but he certainly wasn’t going to tell him that thinking about him petting a dog that one time made his stomach clench and his chest swell. He could feel Leon’s gaze on him, pinning him in place.

“You really need to learn to communicate with people,” he said finally. Cloud’s knees weakened in relief, and he barely bit back a giddy sigh. He finally felt able to meet Leon’s gaze again, and he found the other man smirking.

“And I suppose you’re going to teach me?” Cloud countered.

“Fuck no, I hate people.”

Leon wrapped an arm around Cloud’s waist and pulled him in close, covering his mouth and kissing him forcefully. Cloud tasted blood on his lips, courtesy of the newly reopened cut on Leon’s lip, but he didn’t care. Gods, did he ever not care. He fisted a hand in Leon’s dark hair and crowded him against the door, which clicked the rest of the way shut beneath their weight. He pressed his body against Leon’s, grinding into him and reveling in the groan that slipped into his mouth. He could feel them both hardening at a pace quick enough to make them dizzy, and Cloud brought his free hand up to shove under Leon’s shirt, scratching his way up to play with dusky nipples. Leon shrugged his jacket off and Cloud wasted no time in shoving the shirt up and over his head, tossing it to the floor and returning his attention to Leon’s sculpted chest. He latched onto Leon’s neck, nipping a sucking a bruise into existence just above his collarbone, feeling giddy like a seventeen year old fooling around for the first time. Well, if he’d been conscious at seventeen. Leon sighed and thrust against him, fingers tangled in his hair, tightening and tugging almost painfully. Cloud licked his way up Leon’s neck to toy with his ear, then tugged on his waist until they began walking backwards. Leon stripped Cloud of his shirt along the way, mouthing at his neck as they shuffled toward the bed. Cloud gripped at the back of Leon’s neck and dragged him down on top of him, spreading his legs for Leon to settle between.

Leon kissed him again, his lips firm and commanding and warm against Cloud’s, and Cloud kissed back just as eagerly. Hands roamed over broad shoulders and hard stomachs, nails scraped against hot skin, and it didn’t take long for Cloud to start feeling overwhelmed. He broke the kiss with Leon and smirked at him before he pushed against him, moving to straddle him. Leon sat back with little fuss, never one to complain about a Cloud filling his lap. He leaned down and dragged his lips down Leon’s chest, tongue flashing out to taste the soft, tan skin of it before he made his way down to his pants. He unbuckled the belts Leon wore with practiced ease and dragged his pants down his hips, biting at his hip bones sharply. Leon bucked against him, simultaneously allowing for Cloud to slide his pants off and toss them to the side. His underwear came off with them and his cock bounced free, slapping back against his stomach and drawing a groan out of him. Cloud could have teased him, but the longer he looked at the thick length before him, the more he wanted it in his mouth. Without any preamble, he grasped the base of Leon’s cock and took him into his mouth, nearly swallowing him. A groan rumbled its way out of Leon’s throat and Cloud looked up to see him toss his head back, his adam’s apple working fruitlessly. Cloud worked his way back up Leon’s shaft, licking and suckling at the sensitive head and working his fist around the base. Cloud bobbed his head, his fist working Leon’s shaft as he withdrew and twisting back down and out of the way as he swallowed his cock again. He loved doing this, he’d discovered - sucking cock. Leon’s cock, specifically. Loved the way the brunet moaned his name, loved the way he thrust shallowly into his mouth and the way his hands fisted painfully in his hair, like they did now.

Eventually Cloud pulled away with a vulgar, wet slurp, and Leon groaned his displeasure at the loss of heat. He hauled Cloud up by the hair and kissed him hard; Cloud slipped his tongue into his lover’s mouth, allowing him to taste his own cock and salty precome. Leon pressed upward and flipped them, maneuvering them until Cloud rested comfortably against the pillows. Leon’s hands pressed Cloud down into the mattress by his shoulders, and he leaned down to kiss and lave and suck at his neck, his tongue rolling gently across the reddened flesh after he nipped at it. His left hand found Cloud’s right, and he laced their fingers together, bringing them up and pressing them to Cloud’s temple.

Cloud’s breath hitched; this was a rare, tender gesture, the kind they hadn’t really explored thus far. Everything had been so combative and fierce until now, and while Cloud still yanked on Leon’s hair and Leon bit his lips, Cloud felt… different. Opened to Leon in a way he hadn’t been before. Cloud squeezed at Leon’s fingers, turning his head slightly to press into them. Leon’s lips softened on his neck and he felt them press gently at the skin, listening to the quiet sounds of Leon kissing him. It was a brief, rare moment that Cloud committed to memory, knowing that he was lucky to get this after the shit he’d pulled. Leon kissed his way back up Cloud’s jaw and sealed their lips together. His thumb brushed across Cloud’s once, and Cloud moaned into the kiss, unable to stop himself. Leon broke the kiss and reached over to the bedside table to collect a bottle of lube. He pressed it into Cloud’s hand and leaned down to whisper huskily into his ear.

“Let me watch.” A shiver crept its way down Cloud’s spine as he popped the cap on the lube and poured some out onto his fingers. Cool and silky as it slid between his fingers, he warmed it as Leon got up off of him, kneeling between his legs to watch. His free hand, after dropping the closed bottle to the bed, skimmed down his chest, brushing over his nipples while his other hand felt between his legs. He lifted one leg, bringing his knee back to expose himself to Leon. A few months ago, that position would have had him burning in embarrassment. But he and Leon knew each other now, intimately, what their bodies liked and wanted and craved. Cloud bit his lip as he circled his entrance with two fingers, never breaking eye contact with Leon. His lover’s eyes told him everything he needed to know - his gaze was hooded and heavy and hungry, his pupils nearly overtaking the blue that Cloud felt himself suddenly wanting to drown in. Cloud gyrated his hips as his fingers worked over his hole, and when it started to become too much, he slid two fingers into himself.

Cloud moaned, tossing his head back and finally breaking eye contact. He felt Leon shift on the bed as he worked himself open, heard the sigh of him exhaling from his nose. Cloud tried to smile around a moan - they’d tried this before, with the same results: Leon simply had no self control when it came to Cloud. He talked about wanting to watch, but always ended up with his mouth and fingers on him in short order. Cloud spread his fingers within himself, withdrawing them and gasping at the palest burn, a warm trickle that lit a fire at the base of his spine. He lifted his hips and added a third finger, crying out as he worked them into himself. His hips bore down as he pressed his fingers in, and he was settling into a rhythm when he felt fingers wrap around his wrist and pull his hand away. He groaned at the loss, but Leon quickly pressed his own fingers into Cloud, and gods above, they were so much better than his own. Hotter, somehow, like they’d been sitting in a pool of lava before making their way into Cloud’s body. Cloud panted as Leon pulled them out, only to shove them back in as he took the head of Cloud’s weeping cock into his mouth, tearing a cry of pleasure from the blond. His body felt like fire as he pressed on the back of Leon’s head, a choked curse clawing its way from his chest when he felt the head of his cock hit the back of Leon’s throat. Leon responded by pressing his fingers against Cloud’s prostate, and it’s like he had a map to it because holy _shit_ , the accuracy. Cloud moaned again, a shudder rolling through his body.

Leon withdrew then, and Cloud huffed in irritation, all sensation being cut off abruptly and leaving his cock cooling, aching and swollen with need. Insistent hands at his hips flipped him over, bringing him up on his hands and knees, and Cloud grinned, a feral, excited thing. He pressed back on his knees, baring his ass to Leon. He twisted his head to see Leon coating his cock in lube, his nostrils flaring as he stroked over the purpled member. He shuffled forward on his knees, lining himself up with Cloud’s hole and -

He didn’t break eye contact with Cloud as he sunk into him. The stretch felt divine, and Cloud fought to keep looking back when all he wanted to do was drop his head and give himself over to the sensation. Leon’s cock fit him like a hand filling a custom glove, hot and thick and hard as steel. He could feel his hole twitching around him, welcoming the familiar intruder and tightening around him. He heard Leon let out a breath he’d been holding, his hands smoothing across Cloud’s lower back.

“Shit,” Leon swore softly as he bottomed out. Cloud’s eyes fluttered closed briefly before he pulled away and pressed back. Leon glanced back up at him, and Cloud narrowed his eyes, his own gaze full of heat and desire. Leon smirked, readjusted his hands to grip at Cloud’s hips, and snapped forward. Cloud moaned, his head arching back as Leon set a brutal pace. Cloud matched him, bouncing back onto every thrust, using his arms for leverage as he met Leon’s hips each time with a resounding slap that soon filled the room. Leon paused for just a brief moment and Cloud snarled as he brought himself closer, one knee forward, and hen slammed home again.

Cloud cried out, the new angle bringing the head of Leon’s cock against his prostate more often than not. Heat radiated out from his groin, spreading through his body and sending sparks flying behind his eyes. He couldn’t see Leon’s face, but the image he conjured in his mind was enough to make his stomach flip. Leon’s hands gripped his hips almost painfully, but he relished in it, wouldn’t have ever had it any other way. He drilled into Cloud, his hips snapping insistently, and Cloud met each thrust with one of his own, spearing himself just as much as Leon was punching into him. His cock bobbed wildly with every thrust, untouched and leaking furiously. Cloud cried out when Leon thrust in deep and ground the head of his cock against his prostate, his arms suddenly going weak. Leon reached for him, wrapping one strong arm around his chest and pulling him up. His hand crept up Cloud’s neck and Cloud eagerly tilted his head back, arching his back and leaning against Leon’s chest as the other man picked up the pace again.

Cloud’s cock slapped wetly in the smears of precome on his own belly as Leon pumped into him, each thrust growing in power until Cloud’s back was so arched that only his ass and the tips of his hair brushed against the man behind him. He was nearly insensate with pleasure, unable to stop the steady flow of moans and cries that fell from his lips. His throat was raw and his lungs burned for something more than a gasped, desperate breath, but he didn’t care, he loved it. Loved feeling this wrecked and desperate and completely unwound. It was freeing in a way he didn’t think he’d ever feel until he’d defeated his darkness, didn’t think he’d deserve even once he did.

Leon’s hand left his throat, where it had been resting so lightly, keeping him in place, and crept down his stomach to grasp at his cock. He was soaked, and when Leon slid his fist to the base and back up, Cloud wailed, his hands flinging out to grab at something, nothing, _anything_. He settled for reaching behind him, grasping at Leon’s pistoning hips with one hand and his hair with another. Leon twisted his hand around the head of Cloud’s cock and he sobbed, his voice fracturing as he came apart in his lover’s embrace. Thick ropes of his seed shot from his body, catching on his chest and stomach, dribbling across Leon’s fingers as he worked the head of his member. Cloud had never felt so on fire, never been more hyper aware of Leon whispering downright _sweet_ things into his ear as he came around him, trembling and wracked with pleasure. He cried out as his gut clenched and his cock pulsed in Leon’s grip, milked as he was for every last drop of spend.

Leon fucked him through it, hissing as Cloud’s body clenched around him, driving into him, chasing his own release. Thoughtlessly, fucked out of his mind and buzzing contentedly, Cloud reached for Leon’s soiled hand and shamelessly sucked the digits into his mouth, licking his seed from them obscenely. With a strangled cry, Leon’s thrusts suddenly lost their rhythm and he buried his face into Cloud’s shoulder, emptying himself into him. Cloud felt it all, felt every twitch of Leon’s cock, the liquid heat spilling against his insides, every ragged breath he drew as his orgasm squeezed the breath from him.

Cloud felt Leon withdraw from him a moment later, and then there was the soft touch of lips on his shoulder, a hand on his waist, heavy breathing at his back.

“Don’t go all flowery on me, Leonhart,” Cloud muttered. He felt Leon’s mouth pull into a grin against his shoulder, and his hands spread across his torso.

“But Cloud,” he drawled, voice inching toward a simper, “I thought you wanted to be my boyfriend.” Cloud rolled his eyes and pulled away from Leon, shifting to settle down in his bed that felt so much more comfortable now than it did an hour ago. He wriggled under the covers and squinted at the silvery moonlight that spilled in through his window.

“Shut the curtain,” he said, his voice muffled by the blanket. Smirking and shaking his head, Leon tugged the curtain over and shimmied under the covers as well. Cloud found himself prodded and nudged and shoved at until he gave in and moved over, grumbling goodnaturedly. Leon settled comfortably next to Cloud and rolled onto his side to face him. He didn’t cuddle against his side or kiss his cheek tenderly, and Cloud was absolutely fine with that. Cloud adjusted his head on the pillow, and Leon batted long blond spikes away from his face as they fell over.

“You still need a haircut.”

**Author's Note:**

> This took longer than I thought! But, I'm rather pleased with how it came out - far better than the original. If you've read the original, I'm so sorry I subjected you to that. 
> 
> The third one will be a little longer of a wait, but I am working on it, I promise! Thank you so much for reading - drop a kudos if you didn't hate it!


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